Nav Station Closet Shelves & Raritan PH HEAD Installation

[Lance Jones]

After months of contemplation, purchasing parts, and awaiting the right time, I've finally finished Captain Al's 3 sliding shelf modification to my nav closet!

The sliding shelves mentioned by Al are no longer carried by Home Depot. Their replacement product already has cross connectors between the tracks. So, I modified the construction a bit.

Installation was different in that I had to cut some off the top of the vertical supports to get it inside the cabinet. However, once inside, the mounting was pretty straight forward. Me wife is now happy!!!!! Now I just have a few tweaks to finish it off.

[Rick Johnson]

Can you add a few pictures?  This seems like a worthwhile project!

Thanks,

Rick

[Lance Jones]

I will this weekend. Thanks.

[Ken Juul]

Here is the link to the original.

http://www.c34.org/wiki/index.php?title=Hanging_Locker_Upgrade

Lance, how about doing a wiki page of your modification to the original plans.  Be happy to assist if you want so wiki instruction.  Email me.

[hump180]

I have also added the shelves. You can still order the baskets online with the part # but they are discontinued. The only thing I did different than Capt. Al was that I did not paint the closet, I just stained the shelving unit the color of the teak door. I believe minwax mahogany gel stain is the match. Looked better than the painted deal in my opinion. I will try to post pics this weekend if anyone is interested.
One last note: I am not totally satisfied with the usable space of the shelves as they dont go go nearly as deep as the closet, so in the future I might go a different route to utilise more space if my needs are as such.

Bill, Grace Under pressure #1026

[Susan Ray]

Stu..On the pics of your shelf installation..Just curious where the loop to the head out hose is? In the head? Only see the head intake hose with vented loop. Aloha, Susan

[Stu Jackson]

Susan, we do not have a vented loop on the head out (1 1/2 inch black hose).  It goes directly to the holding tank.  I recognize that some suggest a vented loop on the outlet, including Peggie Hall.  Even with the OB thru hull open, the head doesn't fill up.  Sometimes, after about two years or so after a new head, it will start to do so.  When it does, I know it's time for a new head.  I've gone through the rebuilding nonsense, and find it's easier to simply replace the whole head, since it's gotta come out to rebuild anyway. 

We have a WC Head Mate.  We like it and I find it's much better than Groco or Jabsco heads, somewhere in between those lousy ones and the superb Raritan PH or PHC.  Bill Dwyer installed a Raritan PH in his boat and I think posted it here with pictures. (Start here: http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,1621.0.html and then go here: http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,3296.0.html and here: http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,3797.0.html) 

I might consider the newly available Raritan PH base which can use any head bowl, the next time out.  See this from Peggie Hall (scroll up to the top of the thread to read it all):  http://forums.catalina.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=608198#post608198

The PO arranged the plumbing differently than most boats and different than all of the WM Advisor sketches. (See: http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/westadvisor/10001/-1/10001/HeadsHoldingTanks.htm)  Head 1 1/2 in. out towards holding tank, "T" down to 1 1/2 in. seacock to the overboard thru hull, 1 1/2 inch continues on to the holding tank, just before the tank there's a 1 1/2 inch gate valve to tank.  The macerator pump is connected to the bottom of the tank and either a 3/4 or 1/2 in. (I forget which size) seacock to the thru hull.

The advantage is that when out at sea we can go directly overboard legally without having to push anything through the holding tank, different than WM's "preferred" system.  I like this better.

The picture is from when I was trying to replace the bronze gate valve with a plastic ball vale.  That didn't work because of space constraints (tell my knuckles that! ), so we kept the gate valve, which I hate with good reason, since gate valves don't belong on a boat.  In this case, the body of the valve is OK, so when it dies (i.e., the gate or the screw inside gets corroded) we just unscrew the bonnet of the valve and install a new handle and bonnet.  The valves come from our local ACE hardware store!

The pipes are taken apart here, but the white hose runs to the gate valve, just to the right of it is the "T" down to the OB thru hull and Marelon seacock.  The macerator output is below the incoming head hose and the pump and seacock are somewhat hidden below the wiring.  Separate tank outlet for the pump out.

This requires judicious valve positioning 'cuz the direct OB 1 1/2 inch seacock cannot be opened at the same time as the gate valve or the holding tank will fill up.

[Wayne]

I converted the hanging locker into shelves.  Bought two mahogany modular shelves from the Container Store, cut them to fit then used hardware store 'L' section aluminum to screw to the side walls and to hold the shelves.  I don't have sliding drawers, but I do have use of the entire depth and width of the storage.

[Jon Schneider]

All this talk of turning that the nav hanging closet into something more useful makes me wonder if there might not be a hybrid approach: two full-depth shelves with sliding baskets attached under the shelves, which would still leave room on top of the shelves and between them for non-basketed stuff.  That might be the approach I take.